Hello!

Finally decided to get off my ass and write about how I’m doing now. (I’m pressed for time btw, so this entry is abit rushed). Anyway, the long and short of it is that I’m doing well, and that I am yet another step to achieving that five year goal of mine. Man. I’m like, so proud of myself. Hahhahahaha!!! *slaps table hard*.

Sometimes, I daydream. I think about going into partnership/running a start-ups with you people. I pretty much have an idea of who I want to work with, and now it’s just a matter of timing, (since I don’t know what you people will be doing five years later) and getting people to cooperate. I know this sounds pretty vague, but if there’s a message behind all of this, it’s this. Whether you’re skipping meals so that you can save money for your studies, burning midnight oil doing that first class honours thesis, losing sleep at D&N, trying hard to get into finance while doing your FYP, having a hard time prepping for your finals or just can’t take your students anymore, don’t slack off. Because once you do, you’ll lose sight of your goal. Don’t ever let that happen. Ever.

Because you people are destined to do great things. I have my money on you.


Melodramatic post. Ain’t it?

(The above list is not meant to be exhaustive)

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Vista, Because I'm Better. Dumber.

Same question, different people. Repeated many times. So much so that it would be more conducive to write a mini-FAQ that tries to cover questions that are not commonly answered in the typical write-ups that one reads everyday. Some of them though, are pretty…dumb.

1. Vista, do I need it?
No. Period.

2. I want to upgrade. What should I take note of?
The Aero interface needs 1GB of RAM to run. Though this does not effectively mean that you need 2GB of RAM if you’re running graphic intensive games(Since memory is released from the Aero interface and diverted to your game once it starts running), it means that you’ll have slower loading times. The difference is visible. Trust me on this. And when you do eventually do decide to buy RAM, make sure you take advantage of DDR technology and buy two sticks instead of one.

3. I have no money. Can show me where to download?
Cheebye. OSes and good multiplayer games deserve your money, especially the latter. Other than being free, getting a bootleg OS isn’t so hot. For one, you’d have to check for and download security updates periodically yourself at shady sites. And the moment you forget, you leave yourself vulnerable to whatever-KNNLJ-things there are on the web.

4. Which version of Vista should I get?
There are 4. Prices in SGD for the fresh install and upgrade versions.

Home Basic – Don’t Buy this.
Home Premium- $138(Student), $428(Fresh Install), $288(Upgrade)
Business- $528(Fresh Install), $358(Upgrade)
Ultimate-$698(Fresh Install), $468(Upgrade)
Home Premium OEM - $169
Home Ultimate OEM - $318

To avoid the hassle of reinstalling your programs, I suggest that you spend the extra dough to get the upgrade versions. Do not ever, ever buy the fresh install versions, since the upgrade versions are very much capable of installation WITHOUT the existence of an older windows on one’s PC. Yes, you can do a fresh install with the upgrade versions of Vista. For the workaround, ask me.
(And if that isn’t enough, one can indefinitely postphone the activation process. Wth.)

5. Bootleg software / Downloaded MP3s.
MS’s DRM technology. In their article, they ONLY state that WMP prohibits the playback of copyright-infringed materials. Whatever, alright. The rumours (I’ve been hearing) about Vista deleting your downloaded MP3s and videos are completely unsubstantiated and untrue, and it is still very much possible to get them to play.

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The Internet

Like the technology of today, is a many splendoured thing. Sadly, such greatness is tainted by a sizable chunk of the world’s population. Not the 10 year old kid, the hardcore ah-beng at Mdm Wong’s nor the old-folks that aren’t net-savvy - but by intelligent, capable people. Individuals that were born and raised in the era of technology, that have used windows for half their lives and are able to download stuff via BT by themselves w/o calling out to their geeky friends. And yet, by the same hand that creates that blogspot account originates a series of misguided and imprudent actions. And it ain’t just the bad-netiquette we’re talking here.

Now before you jump the gun and ask me to look in the mirror, allow me this one chance to defend myself. I never said that I’ve never stooped to a level below that of a reasonable expectation of current day nethics. I don’t pay for shareware, sometimes aid in the perpetuation of flame wars, swear online, and believe that Bittorrent was the best thing that ever happened. If anyone asked, I would be the first to admit that it is almost impossible to adhere to the same standards of behaviour online and one would in real life (Would you rather steal a CD from a shop or download its contents off baidu.com?) – which is the crux of the issue here. Standards of behaviour may be different in some areas of cyberspace, but they are not lower than in real life. And one such area that I’d like to address are the misuse of MSN nicks/blogs, mediums that allow one to freely broadcast their thoughts.

Let’s talk about messenger first. Of recent I’ve been getting nicks that are rather hao(4)lian(4) and guai(4)lan(3). People quoting their high salaries, their GPA or how intensely they love their partners (I’m actually ok with this one, just that the guy does it too often). Since when did IM programs become a marketing tool for one to flaunt their accomplishments? Ideally, I wish everybody would include a productive nick by their name, one that tells me how they’re doing or updates me with the latest on their side of the world. Don’t think that’s ever going to happen though.

Blogs. While they do give you an avenue to vent your frustrations, few realize that they are held accountable and responsible for every post up there. Those that can appreciate this fact are those ready to handle the repercussions that ensue. The same can be said for the good people that leave behind their names when commenting on another’s blog. For anonymity reflects one’s unpreparedness in assuming responsibility.
Once again, for emphasis – It’s your blog and the burden of upkeeping/maintaining it rests with you. If you’re not comfortable with strangers reading your work, spend a minute to privatize it. There are no exceptions to this rule.

And yeah, thanks for reading this piece.

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Playing to Win.

In the midst of sending resumes and writing in to companies during the month following my exams, I have been, well, for the most of it, gaming. There are a couple of things I’d like to address here, so if you’re in a rush, maybe you’d like to take a look at this another day.

My current gaming life revolves around two of the more popular games in the market today – The King of Fighters XI, for which I’ve been playing (the series) since I was 16, and PC game of the year, Company of Heroes, which I’ve only recently picked up. Drawing a parallel, you can either play these games for fun, or for blood.

Enter the XI tournament, where everything, with the exception of game breaking bugs, goes. There were no scrubs, a good number of ‘em could do 75% combos and no one… no one was playing for fun. I suppose one could pick at the paradox here, arguing that playing to win = having fun. I can’t say that that statement is wrong, because it isn’t. Everyone is entitled to their own definition of fun. But meh, in a nutshell, playing to win is how one really improves. And the best people to prove this are scrubs.

A distinctive characteristic of a scrub is, without doubt, the way they take to a particular move that made them lose a game. I’ve had people tell me that MG42s (CoH) are imbalanced, throws in KoF are cheap, and even when I play badminton, that my serves are labeled as being rude. Yes, such gestures are depicted in my everyday life in meetings with people. Anyway, let’s talk about throws, an integral part of KoF, whose entire purpose in the game design is to do (albeit little) damage, on a blocking opponent. The scrub labels this a cheap, underhanded and rude even when there are two viable counters against this. Doing throws excessively might even get you a free black eye from your local superbowl ah-beng. (yes, I almost got beaten once, which is why this incident is welded in). Now, you’re not going to see a scrub throw his opponents back x times in a row, But why not? What if doing so is strategically the sequence of moves that optimize his chances of winning? Here we see that the scrub is only willing to play within his own made up set of mental rules, and breaching those rules would be regarded as…being cheap.
Repeating a sequence of moves is a great way to get oneself labeled as cheap. But then we ask ourselves - why can’t the scrub not defeat something so obvious? Is he too poor a player to counter it? And if that move is so good (but not game-breaking), wouldn’t I be an idiot not to use it? And here we have it, playing to win means doing whatever it takes to increase one’s chances of winning. If your opponent counters it, you find another viable counter to counter your opponent. Thus, both players reach a higher level of play.

So in summary, what I’m trying to say is,

-Characteristics of Scrubs = People who complain about a given situation instead of doing something about it. And since they know the reality of the situation but yet choose to spawn an excuse about it, doesn’t’ that just make them people who lie to themselves? After all, (not wanting to sound philosophical) but to lie, you’d have to know the truth first right?
-Playing to win is generally how people improve, and that's what this is all about, continuous self-improvement. Which, after sidetracking for quite awhile here, brings me back to my original point -that someday, I hope to trash everybody, including you(yes, all of you).

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